LSAT Diary: Logic Games, I Will Be Kicking Your Ass

This LSAT Diary is from Rebecca, who's ready to destroy the LSAT.

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Here's Rebecca's LSAT Diary:

So here I am, a thirty-something, just over a week away from my birthday. While others my age might be planning exotic getaways for their birthdays or maybe just a weekend trip to Vegas, I am plotting my five month mêlée with the LSAT. It is true that most people my age that are interested in law already have their degrees and have been practicing attorneys for many years now, but hey, I am certainly not most people.

To start, I didn’t even graduate college with my Bachelor’s degree until just after my 29th birthday. That was a challenge in its own right. After graduation, I contemplated what I wanted to do with my life and several years later, I found myself still contemplating. And then, I finally received my wakeup call à la a diagnosis of ADHD, Anxiety & Depression. Ouch! Well, at least my downward spiral roused my fighting spirit. I am crazy, hear me roar!

I decided to take on the challenge of the LSAT because I had considered taking it a few years back. That is, until I bought an LSAT prep book, opened it and was like…ugh, this shit is freakin’ hard. But I am fairly confident now that law school is the right path for me, so here I go.

I actually started studying for the LSAT at the beginning of March. I enrolled in one of those national prep courses. Although, I have found it helpful, I need a lot more time if I want to reach my, oh so lofty, goal of a 172. No, that isn’t a typo... hey, I did say I was crazy.

The first two practice tests I took, I scored 151 on both, followed by a 154 and 153. But considering I only once have been able to complete an entire section (without just random bubbling) I think I might have a shot if I can improve my speed and focus. Regardless, I would definitely say that I have a lot of studying ahead of me!

I decided to start my second attempt at mastering the LSAT, by writing each of the sections a little note just to let them know what they can expect from me in the upcoming months. I didn’t want them to be caught off guard when I come at them with my pencils a’ blazing. All black Ticonderoga #2 pencils. I bought them because black pencils scream whoop ass, just like my new attitude about conquering the LSAT.


Dear Logic Games,

You, by yourself, were no doubt the main reason I chose not to take the LSAT back in 2005. You confused me, scared me and made me feel inferior. You may still kick my ass right now, but I guarantee by the end of August, I will be kicking your ass and taking names. You have nowhere to hide, as the answers are a matter of indisputable facts. There can be no deceit. You may be clever, but I will be fierce in learning your ways and you will be no match for me on LSAT day.


Dear Reading Comprehension,

You are a tricky devil for me. You seem so straight forward and obvious, but yet I still stumble on simplicities such as your main points. You use these foreign sounding words to make me feel stupid and you lull me to sleep with your long passages. By the time I reach your end, I barely recall your beginning. I do not fear you though. I will work hard on my vocabulary and build my endurance to withstand whatever you throw my way. I look forward to your passages on molecular biology and neuroscience. BRING IT ON!


Dear Logical Reasoning,

You are my ally on this crazy test. You are the bulk of the questions and I feel that in the upcoming months we will forge a strong bond. It is true that you sometimes slow me down with your strange and, let’s face it, downright awkwardly worded arguments. (That is just my opinion, don’t take it personally). But, I feel like I get you…for the most part. I think we just need to spend more time together. By the end of September, we will be BFFs…I can just tell.


The Plan:

I plan to work on the different sections concurrently to avoid boredom and rust, but I will have a main focus for each month:

May – Logic Games

June – Logical Reasoning

July – Reading Comprehension

August – Logic Games

September – Logical Reasoning

In addition, I also want to supplement my studies by improving my vocabulary and reading more about the fundamentals of logic. It is a pretty lofty study plan with working full time and fulfilling personal obligations, but hey, I have no social life so I think it is doable.

The goal for this week is to start reworking all of the logic games that I have worked on over the last two months. I also want to complete three of the four games in a timed section with no more than one wrong. If I get one more easy Logic Games question wrong in a timed section because I am not paying attention…


TUESDAY
Let the games begin. Logic games that is!

Okay, so I spent a good part of tonight formulating my attack plan and writing the first part of my LSAT diary, so there wasn’t much time for actual study. Did I mention I have a terrible procrastination problem? Anyhow, I did manage to rework about four games of simple ordering. I am still slow as molasses, but I am getting almost all of them right.


WEDNESDAY
My work managed to follow me home today and so I didn’t get a chance to work on any logic games considering at midnight I was still working. So frustrating…


THURSDAY
Back to the games. I am just continuing to rework the games that I have already done. I want to make sure I save enough material that I have not seen yet, so that I can work on work on new games in August to have a more reliable gauge of my progress. Continued on simple ordering and started simple grouping. Worked through six games.


FRIDAY
I snuck in a couple games while I was at work. When I got home I worked on some reading comp sections to break it up. I did a timed section and only made it through 21 questions. If only the LSAT were 40 minute timed sections... I continued on reading comp by redoing six passages that I had done poorly on the first time around and I tried to analyze the error of my ways.


SATURDAY
After spending four hours in my LSAT class today, there was not much energy left to work anymore. We reviewed a lot on the different types of logical reasoning questions and the strategy for each in class. I did work on about three logic games when I got home in anticipation of the timed section I am taking tomorrow.


SUNDAY
Sadness. I took a timed games section today in class. Good news: I got every question I attempted correct. Bad news: I only attempted 13 questions. I made the fatal error of not recognizing that I started with the most difficult game of the section until I was too far in. Not a good strategy for the girl that can spend 15 minutes on a simple ordering game.

I felt the tears & frustration brewing. So, of course, I went shopping and spent $800 on a road bicycle. How the heck did that happen? Anyhow, after taking my frustrations out on my credit card, I went home and started working on more games, determined to redeem my poor performance. Bad idea! I ended up spending over 30 minutes on one game and literally gave up and looked at the answer to the question I couldn’t figure out. I need a margarita!


MONDAY
After realizing I wasn’t going to meet my goal for the week and having such a frustrating Sunday, I decided to skip the LSAT studies for tonight. Probably not a good idea, but…I did it anyhow.


Lessons learned this week:
-In games, a higher number means a larger number…always!
-Slow down on symbolizing the rules, otherwise I will screw them up!!!
-If I can’t figure out the answer to a question, review my symbols for the conditional statements because odds are I messed at least one of them up.
-Keep at the games EVERY single day. There is always time for at least one game.

Photo by locationscout / CC BY-SA 2.0